A fair trial for industrial residues: How to facilitate policy development for balancing the conflict between a circular economy and toxic-free environment?

As most recycling processes are optimized to obtain just a few targeted outputs, their operations result in large quantities of residues consisting of a blend of valuable and hazardous components.

While their recovery can limit the need for virgin resource extraction and related environmental impacts, it may also lead to an increased dispersal of hazardous substances.

This project aims to facilitate policy development for balancing this conflict between resource circulation and a toxic-free environment.

To achieve this, we will study the non-toxic and toxic environmental impacts as well as institutional conditions and actor-related challenges of different policy configurations and practices for managing waste incineration bottom ash in Sweden.

These scenarios will vary in terms of the handling and utilisation of bottom ash and involve different combinations of policies for governing both the circulation of resources and dispersal of hazardous substances.

The project will be synthesized by identifying general pros and cons of different policy configurations and practices for managing residues, in terms of their environmental impacts, contributions to a circular economy and toxic-free environment and feasibility for implementation.

This synthesis will involve workshops with key stakeholders such as waste producers, users and authorities, where strategies for facilitating the formulation and coordination of different policies for balancing the conflict will be developed.